Tom Beer

Experience

• 

  Wingham Wildlife Park

  Jul 2009 - Aug 2012

  Zoo Keeper working with a range of small mammals, primates, birds and reptiles.

  • Zoo Keeper

    Dec 2011 - Aug 2012

  • Volunteer Zoo Keeper

    Jul 2009 - Dec 2011
• 

  Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve & Howletts Wild Animal Park

  Nov 2014 - Oct 2020

  I assisted the following departments across Howletts’ in husbandry tasks: Primates, Elephants, Hoof-stock and Carnivores. This position required adaptability and flexibility as well as the use of initiative to prioritise tasks. It gave me a greater appreciation for the zoo industry as whole, diversified my skill set and allowed me the opportunity to impart knowledge to others. I worked with 20+ species of primate including the only Banded langur, Grizzled leaf langur and Heck’s macaque outside of Indonesia. Other primates included Javan gibbon, Siamang, Gelada and a variety of langur, lemur and callitrichid. My main duties included cleaning, food preparation, browse identification and harvesting, maintenance and refurbishment, handling and restraint of primates, vaccinations and hand rearing.

  • Cover Keeper

    Feb 2020 - Oct 2020

  • Primate Keeper

    May 2015 - Oct 2020

  • Primate Intern

    Nov 2014 - Apr 2015
• 

  Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre

  Oct 2020 - Dec 2021

  Primate Care Staff

  My time was dedicated to caring for chimpanzees and orangutans (Bornean and Sumatran) including Europe’s only orangutan nursery. These animals came from backgrounds either in the illegal pet trade abroad or had been rejected by their mothers from zoological collections worldwide. My main duties involved daily animal training, cleaning and enriching as well as behavioural observations, record keeping and maintenance tasks.

• 

  FOUR PAWS

  Jan 2022 - Jul 2023

  I was responsible for ensuring the daily operation of the bear team (15+ staff and 50+ Asiatic black bear) in the absence of the Animal Manager. My responsibilities included - ensuring daily husbandry and enrichment activities were carried out, hand rearing, integrating bears, monitoring diets, monitoring behaviour, implementing positive reinforcement training, weighing bears, assisting in veterinary health checks and emergency sedations, overseeing the quarantine protocols, evaluating and developing staff skills, holding meetings and appraisals, record keeping and organising staff rotas. Show less

  • Emergency Planning Coordinator

    Oct 2022 - Jul 2023

  • Chief Animal Caretaker

    Jan 2022 - Jul 2023
• 

  Kent Wildlife Trust

  Aug 2023 - Feb 2024

  Practical Team Volunteer

  Performing seasonal tasks to maintain sites across the Dover and Sandwich areas of Kent. Tasks include, path and fence maintenance, general repairs, scrub and woodland coppicing, ragwort and buddleia bashing.

• 

  DFDS

  Oct 2023 - Feb 2024

  Operations Coordinator
• 

  FOUR PAWS

  Feb 2024 - now

  • Chief Animal Caretaker

    Feb 2024 - now

  • Emergency Planning Coordinator

    Feb 2024 - now